Persona HH
by Qinlongfei
Summary: After the tragic incident to the Asuka brothers know as Orb Gas Explosion incident, they moves to Aprillius city to live with their uncle Makabe and Cousin Kazuki. However, the brothers soon discover there's a more sinister side to the peaceful life...
1. Prolouge:Arrive

Disclaimer... or stuff like that:

First of, I wants to say I don't own Gundam Seed Destiny, Fafner in the Azure, and Persona yadayadayada...

The title HH, comes from the short form of Hisashi Hirai who is the character designer for both GSD and FitA. (Who has the nick name 'character photocopier' in Chinese for how he copies his character's face in each of his later series.)

The story itself takes character from both GSD and FitA with a setting like the Atlas game Persona 3 and Persona 4 series. As a result, it would help if you have some knowledge about those games but it won't be necessarily since I'll be changing a lot of the setting to suit my story. They will be explained in the story. Oh yeah, and since the character are in a new background (And plus I haven't watched the English adaptation of both GSD and FitA.) expect characters behave OOC.

My first language is not English, so sorry if this fanfiction is done very badly with spelling and grammar mistakes.

I also don't own Yu Asuka's character design. He is a character from one of my Chinese friend's Chinese fan fiction. But there will be original characters in the story designed by me so yeah I owns them, more of less.

With all this speaking nonsense, hopefully you will enjoy this rather wacky story, if you don't... well, as my organization behavior class professor says: Have a nice day.

-

Prolouge: Arrive

_Darkness…_

_Darkness… is pulling down on me. It pulls down on my legs, my arms, and even my face…_

_Darkness, just like it devours father, mother and sister, now it's coming at me…_

_Will there be someone…_

"Nii-san?" （For those who doesn't know Japanese, 'nii-san' is a way to say 'elder brother'.)

_Err…?_

-

Shinn Asuka, waking up from his slumber on the bullet train and still dumbfounded, looks outside the window. In the distance far stretch from the lively green field, he sees a city of white and blue erecting over the shinning seashore.

The city of Aprillius, his would be new home…

"Shinn nii-san, are you ok?" a voice, so gently called out his name. He turns around and sees his brother Yu, who has the exact same face as Shinn. They are twin brothers after all. The only difference between them, Shinn's face is always more hardened with an almost annoyed look, while Yu is the gentler one who carries a warm smile on his face. After that incident, his smile become one of the things Shinn treasures the most, "You were sweating, are you having another nightmare?"

"Something like that, but don't bother with it." Shinn hold his still heavy head with his right hand. Nightmare, if that even begins to describe what he has been going through the last month… Of course what he experienced, Yu probably has it worse since he was always the more sensitive one. So he doesn't want to worry his brother anymore then he is right now, "have some shut eye yourself, we'll be in Aprillius soon."

"What is uncle Makabe like, and Cousin Kazuki too?" Yu, who does not look so tired, asks curiously. The Asuka brothers always know they have an uncle from their mother's side, but they were never close.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Shinn's head start to slip out of his palm as he feels his eyelid become heavier again. After the 'Orb gas explosion incident' which took away their parents and sister's life, he took on the responsibility of the elder brother despite only a minute older then Yu. That one month of lacking good sleep is taking its effect now.

Gas explosion… right… Shinn thinks to himself sarcastically. Who ever heard of black monsters, with shape like thousand hands come out of a gas explosion, unless both Yu and him have been hallucinating due to the intense heat. But he is pretty sure that was not the case.

"Shinn nii-san, you are very tired so sleep for now, I'll wake you up till we get to Aprillius…"

But Shinn still too tired from that month of taking care Yu, and the fatigue of travel has already fall asleep. In his sleep, he sees it yet again.

That fateful day, that majestic figure in the sky… The angel in white shining armor with three pair of blue wings stretching elegantly from its back, pointing both of its sword at him, at Yu, and perhaps what once was his father, mother and sister one the ground. A figure, as if larger then life itself overlooks on their petite, pathetic little insect like life…

"Blue angel…" Shinn murmured under his breath, his voice filled with a pure surge of anger and hatred…

-

Uncle Fumihiko Makabe is a middle aged man with messy hair, not exactly what the Asuka brothers were imagining him. He almost looks like a head detective, "Tan, messy hair, and single parents… Well, at least he's not a police officer named Dojima."

Yu chuckles at his elder brother's dry sense of humor.

"Well, Shinn and Yu right? Anyways I'll be the one take care of you two from now on. Just don't expect I do any house work around." _That's what I have a son for_, Fumihiko thinks to himself.

"It's ok Uncle Makabe. I'll be helping around the chores and doing cooking. I am good with Chinese style cuisine."

"Out of this world… unless you hate Chinese style of course, and I'm pretty strong for my age, so I'll help around any manual labour like shopping." Shinn adds this.

"Good, as expected for my sister to raise such well behaving kids." Fumihiko nods as he opens the trunk of his car. Shinn throws both his and Yu's luggage into the car. There's not that much thing anyway, since most of their belongings were burnt in the fire, "So yeah, once we get there feels free like its your own home, and hopefully you guys get alone with Kazuki. And…"

Fumihiko slams the trunk back and turns to look at the Asuka brothers, "You will both attend to Tatsumiya Advanced Academy tomorrow."

-

Unlike their uncle Fumihiko, Kazuki's reaction to the Asuka brother is somewhat indifferent, or perhaps cold. But Shinn prefers this way, after all if their cousin who they never met before in their life turn out to be a very warm person, they will feel weird at their current mental state, "Shinn nii-san. I'm done bathing, are you going?"

Yu enters their room with a towel around his waist, and asks Shinn who is currently shuffling through their luggage, "What are you looking for? Nii-san?"

"Mayuri's Cell phone… still in one piece after that… can't believe it…" Shinn looks at the pink cell phone with a rather nostalgic look on his face. After the death of their family, this normal girl cell phone has become more then what it was. It holds the voice of their deceased sister, and the picture when they were still a big happy family without a care in the world… Well, maybe how will Shinn get a girlfriend after him graduate from University since Yu was always the more popular one with girls?

"Nii-san, you should go take a bath and then rest for the day. We are going back to school tomorrow after all."

"Yeah, I suppose you are right… We all need some good rest after that." Shinn let out a sign, and he gently place his sister's cell phone on the desk, "The life will probably be dull..."

He has a right to think this way. After that incident, the normal life looks just plain dull to both him and Yu.


	2. Chapter 1: Paradise

Chapter 1: Paradise

"How absolutely dreadful…" Shinn Asuka, Age 14, is trying desperately to get his school uniform done right. He has been trying to get it done since the start of this morning, and his only achievement? That chick nest style hairdo of his right now…

_My brother is a genius when it comes to hair style_, Yu thinks to himself rather sarcastically for once, "Here nii-san, let me help you."

He takes out a comb from his pocket, and starts to comb his brother's rather messy hair.

"Thanks Yu, don't know what I'll do without you." Shinn let out a sign as if defeated by his own incompetence.

"It is ok nii-san, sometimes you just try too hard." Yu takes the comb back into his pocket, and start to work on the collar of Shinn's school uniform. Knowing his elder brother since birth, there's no doubt in Yu that Shinn is a good man, it's just like what he says, sometimes he tries too hard on things, "Let's leave a good first impression on everyone, to start our new life here."

"Sure." _And you say I try too hard._ Annoyed, Shinn thinks to himself again. _As if we can just return to our so-called normal life._

After the Asuka brothers hear their homeroom teacher, Talia Gladys calls out their name, they enter the room together. The classroom obviously surprised to see a set of twins, look at them rather curiously. _That's what I hate about going to a new school, you get inspected like some endangered animal._

"My name is Shinn Asuka, that's all." Rather annoyed at the class' reaction, Shinn just wants this to get over quickly.

"Nii-san, don't be too cold with our new classmates. Good morning everyone, my name is Yu Asuka. My brother and I just moved from Orb to Aprillius City yesterday, and we hope we can make some new friends here."

_Speak for yourself. _

"That's great Asuka. Yu, you sit besides Maya in the third row and Shinn… You sit besides Rey by the Window."

Shinn takes a good look at the boy named Rey. He has long blond hair to his shoulder, and blue eyes. Shinn is actually very happy about the teacher's choice, since Rey was one of the few guys in the classroom who didn't seems to care about him and his brother.

_Well, at least he won't annoy the hell out of me._ Rather satisfied, Shinn sits down in his desk without complain.

-

The morning classes went through rather smoothly. Although he doesn't look like the smart type, Shinn used to get really good grade when going to Orb's school. And Yu, He could probably go straight to university with the amount of knowledge he accumulated during his home study.

_Good at study, better at sports, can make Chinese cuisine like some world famous chief, and plays violin like a master… Is there anything Yu can't do? _Shinn thought to himself during lunch break. _Crisis of being an elder brother just arise…_

Shinn isn't, or at least doesn't believe he is jealous of Yu. He is very happy and proud for all the achievement his younger brother did. It's just… with him better then him at everything, Shinn fear there'll be one day Yu will no longer need him.

"Yo, Shinn." Shinn hears a voice calling him and raises his eye, it's one of his classmate named Kenji, "Heard from Yu you play soccer back in Orb, are you good?"

"Of course, nii-san was our star forward player. He makes three goals on average." Yu added proudly.

_It's because we have a good CM who makes all the good passes._ Shinn thinks to himself while looking at Yu.

"Cool, our school soccer team could use a good forward. You haven't joined any club activities right Shinn?" Kenji looks very excited, while a few more boys join on their discussion.

"Nii-san, I'll join the music club." _Of course, it's a real shame to let your violin skill go to waste._ "What about you? Are you going to join the soccer team like before?"

"Actually…" Shinn takes a sip at the strawberry milkshake he purchased from convenient store, "I'm thinking about joining kendo…"

"Ken… kendo?" Yu is rather surprised on Shinn's choice. Shinn was always the harder, more competitive one of the brother, but he never showed any sign of taking some competitive sports as kendo. Until now, a team sport like soccer is what he contents himself with.

"Yeah, I figured I can learn how to protect myself this way." Not having eye contact with his brother, Shinn pretend to look outside the window. There's no way he'll let his brother find out the truth.

_I need to really blow some steam, or I'll simply go insane. Hit people with a bamboo sword will have to do for now._

Shinn couldn't explain this, but after the lose of his family he feels he needs something to be angry at, something to hate… Hatred is like poison, bitter both on the outside and inside, yet he found he can't truly live without it.

_What a messed up brother you have, Yu…_ Shinn thinks to himself, rather annoyed at himself now.

"Aww… how sweet, an elder brother wants be strong to protect his younger sibling." A rather creepy voice made Shinn shiver. He turns around to see some girls blushing and all excited, where they from drama club or something?

"I love you, Yu." "I love you too, dear nii-san." "Chu." They made some kissing sound, which literally knocks Shinn out of his chair.

Out of all the annoying behaviors he expected out of his new classmate, this certainly goes up to a new level of pure wrongness… the nightmare about the blue angel? Forget about it! This is hell!

"Nii-san, you have to be strong…" Yu, kneeling besides his KO'ed brother, says with a rather embarrassed bitter smile.

"This has to stop." Shinn, who comes to his senses jumps up from ground, crashing the empty strawberry milkshake box in his hand and start to hammer his desk hysterically, "Look you stupid damn ditz! Stop this nonsense… or else… or else I'll impale you all on my anti-ship sword!"

_He lost it… _everyone in the class think.

"Look, everyone stop bothering me with your nonsense… I'll go to the roof to sleep!" Shinn puts his hands in his pants pocket kicks the class door open, and vanishes outside.

"But nii-san, what about classes…"

_He run away, was he embarrassed? _Everyone think to themselves again.

-

When he gets on the roof, Shinn finds he is not the first. His cousin Kazuki, who disappeared from the classroom without him realize is sitting on the edge. Besides him, a expressionless boy stands, _what was his name again… wais it Soushi?_

"They are coming, you know it." Soushi stares into the distance, not seems to speak to Kazuki in particular, "Only people with Persona will be able to fight it."

_What is IT?_ Curious, Shinn thinks to himself.

"Yeah, I know." Kazuki stares down on his hand, then as if realizing someone is ear dropping he turns back to see Shinn, "Cousin Shinn… Have you been here long?"

"Nope, just got here, the classes are such a bother, so I decided to skip and take a nap here." Shinn acts casually, as he climbs the ladder to the top of roof entrance, "You two should go back, class start soon."

"Very well." Soushi nodded, as he and Kazuki leaves the roof.

But after Shinn get on top, he realizes he is still not alone. A boy about his age is lying on the roof top, looking at the sky, "Oh? Hi."

The boy greets Shinn with a warm smile. Shinn couldn't help but realize he has something similar with Yu… Could it be the same warm, and gentle smile they have, "You are Shinn right? My name's Ryou Masaoka."

"Yeah, name's Shinn." Shinn nodded as he lies down besides Ryou, "Didn't expect someone else to skip class like me."

"It's ok for me. The school board knows I have an illness so even if I skip the class once or twice they won't hold it. Just don't tell them I skipped on purpose." Ryou puts his right index finger on his mouth, Shinn couldn't help but feels his own expression soften, "It's a very nice day don't you think? Why the long face?"

"Couldn't help but think how screw up my life is… but it's not your concern is it?"

"You are right, we are mere… how do you say this, partner in crime is it?" Ryou let out a soft laughter, Shinn feels all the anger he built inside somehow disappeared.

He was going to spend his whole afternoon know dreaming, and hating about the blue angel. But maybe this change of plan is better…

_To live a new life in this paradise…_ Shin thinks to himself as he closes his eyes._ It might not be too bad. _


	3. Chapter 2: Shadow and Persona

Chapter 2: Shadow and Persona

"Nii-san! Skipping classes on your first day, what were you thinking?" Yu with an angry expression on his face, starts to scold Shinn for being absent for the afternoon class. The others watch with amusement on their face much to Shinn's annoyance. He just knows the rumors about Yu and his 'taboo relationship' will continue to spread despite the threat he made during lunch time.

"Yeah, sorry about that Yu, I'll catch on to the work." Shinn let out a sigh.

"Hi, your name's Yu right?" Ryou, who is behinds Shinn, greets Yu with a smile.

"Oh, hello Ryou, I hope nii-san didn't cause you any trouble."

"Of course not, he's a really nice guy, not much of a talker though." Ryou gives Shinn a nudge with his elbow.

"Only the first day and already made friends with Asuka, that's class rep's charm huh?" Kenji added while turns towards Kazuki, "Doesn't he looks closer to your cousin then you do?"

"You are the Class Rep?" Shinn turns around towards Ryou with an 'absolutely no freaking way' expression on his face.

"Yeah, hard to believe eh?"

-

"Yu, what is a 'Persona'." On the way home, Shinn turns towards Yu, what he overheard on the roof from Soushi worries him a little.

"Persona? That is a word derived from 'per-sonar' which means 'to resonate by side'. It basically means the masks wear by actors."

"Actors? Didn't know you were into acting Shinn." Ryou, who walks besides them, joins in on the discussion.

"I'm not, and don't call me 'Shinn', we aren't that close…"

"So, what do you guys want to do after school? You guys just got to Aprillius city yesterday right? We were thinking about throwing you guys a welcome party." Much to Shinn's annoyance again, Kenji with Kazuki and a bunch of other boys are starting to act too friendly.

"You guys here sure are close." Shinn says sarcastically.

"Well, although Aprillius city's pretty big, Tatsumiya district is pretty small, so everyone going to the school pretty much knows each other." Ryou explains to the Asuka brothers.

"Yeah, how about we all go play Gundam VS Gundam?" One of the boys, Kouyou suggested.

"That most popular online arcade flight simulation game? Count me in!" Kenji exclaimed happily, "And I'll beat you this time Kazuki."

"Doesn't feel likely, you lost last ten times in a row." Kazuki casually says, which almost made Kenji fall down.

"Huh, so you guys like a little G VS G action eh? Get ready to bring shame to yourself, Yu and I are good." Shinn says with a smirk on his face.

"You look pretty confident."

"Of course, we are 'Saga & Kanon'." Shinn says proudly.

"No way dude… you guys are Saga & Kanon the Buster & Blitz Gundam duo? You guys are like a legend in that game." Kenji's eye widens, and his mouth open so large you can fit an egg in it, "You guys only lost once against that guy…"

"Yeah, the KIRA right?" Shinn says with a snort noise, "For your information, it was a draw, the only reason they counted us lose was because we fight with him two on one. But I know Yu can take that guy by himself."

"Hey Kazuki, I bet even you can't beat them." Kouyou turns to Kazuki.

"I'll try."

"That's the boys. They become friends fast when talking about competition games." Maya, who is pushing Shouko's wheelchair, shakes her head with a smile. While the boys discussing their favorite arcade game, the girls are walking on the other side.

"Maya, you think Kazuki can win against the Asukas right?" Shouko looks up from her wheelchair.

"Well… I don't know. Kazuki is the best Gundam VS Gundam player here in Tatsumiya, but…"

"You want him to win right?"

"D, don't be absurd!"

-

While the students of Tatsumiya Advanced Academy's Grade 8, class 2 are having a good time, somewhere under the school…

"Sir, we are getting a reading on our radar!" Bart Heim, who set in front of radar like machine start turns back towards the man sitting in the middle of the room.

"Can we determine its type?" The man in his early 30s with long black hair asks.

"I'm trying… energy reading, it's a D class shadow! It's closing in near the beach!"

"Dispatch Aegis team immediately!"

"Yes sir! Aegis team, mobilize! Repeat, Aegis team mobilize!"

-

_What is that? _Shinn who is chatting with his new friends suddenly feels a chill down his spin. He turns around to see his brother Yu who is looking back at him. He known something is wrong.

Suddenly, something jumps out of the sea. It was a black colored blob with a white mask like face in the middle and many hands like tentacles stretching out of its body, "It's that thing!"

"Shinn! Yu! Fall back!" Ryou, who looks quit laid back suddenly turns serious as he pulls a pistol out of his pocket, and aims it at his own head.

_Is he gonna shot himself?_ Shinn turns around, and find his cousin Kazuki is doing the same thing.

"I'm counting on you Cronus!" "Elf!"

Bam! Bam! Two guns fire, but instead of blowing a hole out of Ryou and Kazuki's head, something… appear, as if being blow out of their head by their gun. Those white shinning fragment forms into two humanoid figures, with armors covering their body and mask covering their faces.

Shinn couldn't help but realize, they have a similar look as the blue angel, who keeps on appearing in his nightmare.

The blob like creature let out a roar, as it charges at the students near the beach. "Stop it, Cronus." Ryou gives out a command, as the figure appeared out of his head also charges at the creature. Wielding a black scythe, it cut off one of its tentacle arm. It fall on the beach, jumping furiously for a few second before finally went dead and turns into a puddle of black. The figure appeared out of Kazuki also joins in the fight.

_We should run…_ Shinn thinks to himself, but there's something makes him stay and watch the battle.

One of the tentacle arms from the blob knocks Cronus back on the beach.

"Run, everyone… We can't hold a D class shadow with only two Personas." Ryou who starts to sweat fall to one of his knees, that figure is obviously draining a lot of his stamina, "Yeah, Shinn? The persona you were asking… that's it."

"Out our way you damn civilians!" A loud shout is heard behind Shinn, he turns to look and see a white haired boy running from towards them from school. From the different uniform, it is obvious he is a senpai (Japanese for elder student) from high school department, "The Aegis team will take over from here. Karin you take recon! Dearka, Shiho you two support me from distance, I'll charge in with my Caesar!"

"Yes sir/Yzak!"

"Medea!" Karin, the only middle-schooler summons calls out of her persona, it was a female figure wearing red jump suit with a white helmet covering her face.

"Iris!" "Ulysses!" Shiho the high school girl with black hair and Dearka the guy with tan skin and blond hair both summons their persona with their hand gun. Iris was a female figure covered with armor who wears a rainbow colored cape, while Ulysses is a male figure whose right hand is a huge bow like canon.

"Shadow scum, don't mess with us! Caesar!" Yzak shout loudly as he also brings the gun to his head and summons his persona, a heavily armored male figure wielding a huge sword.

With Caesar joining in close combat, Iris and Ulysses distracting the shadow with their range attack they are finally able to able to keep the shadow at bay. Although Medea seems to be doing nothing, Shinn noticed after it appears the other personas seems to fight better as they can more easily dodge the shadow's attack. _It's reading the enemy movement?_

Then, he noticed something else. A bad feeling as if rising from the water itself, draw closer and closer at them.

_Something is still in there. Who is it targeting at?_

Then Shinn realize it, the girl in wheelchair, what was her name again? Is it Shouko? And the girl holding the wheelchair Maya, they are easiest target now.

He runs straight at them as the feeling grow stronger, "Out the way!" He pushed them so hard, Shouko fall out of her wheelchair and rolls on the ground with Maya for a few meters.

"What did you do that… for…" Maya turns up and yells at Shinn, but before she can finish her sentence she see it with horror, black hands rise from water grabbed Shinn, who stands where they were a few moments ago. For a split second, Shinn fought it with all his strength, but more hands reach out and pull him into water with a painful yell.

"Nii-san! NO!" Yu runs towards water, but he was held back by Rey.

"Don't go, he's already lost."

"No! Not my nii-san too! Shinn nii-san!" Yu with tear in his eyes cries out his brother's name.


	4. Chapter 3: Revelation

Chapter 3: Revelation

_Darkness…_

Can't see anything, Shinn desperately fight for air, or perhaps a source of light.

_Darkness… is pulling down on me. It pulls down on my legs, my arms, and even my face…_

All he can feel is his body grows heavier and heavier.

_Darkness, just like it devours father, mother and sister, now it's coming at me…_

Is he going to die like this? It is such a ridiculously short life. He still doesn't know what took away his family, and he still hasn't met the blue angel again.

_Anger… angry at this damn life… hatred… hates this damn life. Will it all end here?_

_I don't want to die… Not like this…Will there be someone…_

_Accept me…_ Shinn could almost hear a voice in his head. _Accept who?_ The anger he harbors, or perhaps the hatred? He has been trying to hide away his anger and hatred, at least from Yu because he doesn't want his brother too sees how twisted his mind has become after his family's death.

Yu was the only thing he has left, but now…

_I… embrace the truth… I accept it…_ Shinn reach his hands, towards the only source of light he sees, "Per… so… na…"

His mouth opens, as if chanting a gentle murmur.

_Very well…_

-

There is a loud noise heard by everyone on the beach, as if a strong gust of wind blowing through a narrow valley. Then, something jumps out of the dark, calm water. Everyone turn their head up and look.

Another D Class Shadow still wrapping its tentacle hands on Shinn is pulled out of the water. Behind Shinn, a figure soars in the sky like a raging hawk. It wears a sleeveless black jacket with a skull head sew on the back and a pair of blue leather jeans and a biker helmet. Two red skinned arms with bulging muscles so huge they looks like tree trunk are holding a wooden sword. A long scarf, so red it looks like dried, old blood stain flung behind its neck like a pair of wings.

"Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul I come forth. I am Susanoo, the berserk storm."

"What the… Impossible! How could that damn civilian call out his persona without an evoker?" Yzak stares at sky with eyes wide.

"Well… I'll be damned… Another natural type persona user, just like that guy huh?" Dearka walks beside Yzak and give him a pat on the shoulder, "At least this one's on our side, one scar on your face is enough."

"Don't remind me of that incident again." Yzak hissed at his best friend.

Shinn, who is still wrapped by the shadow start to stretch his arms, as if let out a painful moan, the shadow makes a noise similar to pressing a chalk against blackboard. Its arms torn apart by Shinn and fall on the ground so fast as if they are meteoroid. Shinn hold his right hand toward the shadow, and his persona does so as well. A hurricane forms around the shadows body, torn it apart and then slowly dissolve into nothingness.

"He… took a Dreadnought class shadow out with one shot…" Yzak feels he had too much surprise for one day.

Shinn turns around to look at the D Class shadow on the beach. Although he was very far from the others on the beach, Yu feels he could clearly see his brother's face. Maybe it is the twin's connected feeling or something like that. And for the first time, he see his brother has a cold, emotionless expression in his eyes, as if he is looking down on all of them from sky.

Just like the blue angel was on that day.

Shinn, and his persona Susanoo makes a dive at the shadow, it desperately fling a small number of its arms at the other personas who are still in a deadlock with him, and send most of its arms at Shinn. A gust of wind appears, wrapping around both Shinn and Susanoo as if a protective cocoon and torn apart any tentacle arms the shadow charge at him. Susanoo holds its wooden sword with both arms, and impales the shadow's mask with it. The shadow makes a shriek as it shakes violently for a brief few seconds, before turns into a huge puddle of black ooze.

"Nii-san!" Yu runs towards his brother. Shinn with his cloudy red eyes turn towards Yu, as if trying to recognize who he is before collapsing in his brothers arm, "Nii-san, are you ok? Nii-san!"

"Don't worry, he just exhausted himself. The more powerful a persona is, the more it takes out of its user." Karin runs to Shinn and Yu's side as she lay Shinn down on the ground. Her persona Medea gently places its hand on Shinn's forehead, "My persona has the ability to heal, so he should be alright. But he still need some rest to regain his strength."

"Change of plan, you damn kids." Yzak walks towards the boys and girls who did not run away during the confusion and remained on the beach. Before, Yzak was just a senpai who's in basket ball team and like to bad mouth, but this definitely changed now, "All those of you who got the guts to stay and witness the whole thing… well, we need to return you back to school again. And yeah, the little something you guys called 'normal life'? It just ended five minuets ago for all of you.

-

Shinn who slowly regains his senses feels as if someone cracked his skull open with a hammer.

_If this is what a hangover feels, then I'll stick with my strawberry milkshake for the rest of my life… _He thinks to himself before turning to see Yu's face. Then he realize something embarrassing, he was resting his head on his brother's legs. He wants to quickly get up, but the headache almost made him fell of the couch he and his brother is on.

"Nii-san, you should not move, you are still too weak from the fight." Yu gently run his finger through Shinn's hair, massaging his head to make him feel better.

Shinn slowly turns around to get a better sense of where he is. It looks like they are in a very comfortable waiting room. His cousin Kazuki and his new 'best friend' Ryou is sitting across on another long couch. Besides them the wheelchair girl Shouko and Maya both look at him with a concerned look on their face.

_Well, at least I saved somebody for this headache… totally worth it… _Shinn thinks to himself sarcastically.

Besides those two, there are two more girls in the room, Sakura who has a stern look on her face.

Behind the couch, Kenji and Kouyou both walk in circles anxiously.

"Calm down." He hears a rather cold voice and turns his head towards it and sees Rey who still looks rather indifferent at their situation. He is sitting besides Mamoru, who is staring down on his enclosed hands nervously, "We'll be summoned soon enough."

_Well, he looks too calm for a guy who has no idea what's going on. It's not like he knows about shadow like cousin Kazuki and Ryou… or is it?_ Shinn thinks to himself.

"Come on Kazuki! Say something!" Kouyou suddenly calls out to Kazuki, "Just what the heck is going on? What's this base under our school, and those black monsters doing?"

_We are under our school?_

But before Kazuki, or Ryou can answer his question, the door opens and Soushi appears behind it. "You have all been summoned by the board."

-

The kids look at the metallic corridor and all the machineries from left to right with amazement. They are definitely not expecting to see something like this under their school, "No way… we are still in A.D. 2000 right?"

"You can say that again, it looks like we just jumped to… C.E. 75 or something." Kenji looks at a huge layer of high density glass. Outside, a fish swim towards him and looks at him curiously.

"This is the command room of S.E.E.S. The directors in here will answer any questions you guys may have." Soushi shows the kids a metallic door, with red 'S.E.E.S' painted. The door opens, and the kids walk in. They found themselves in a circular room with long tables all around and in front of them set three men.

In the middle set Kouzou, the middle aged school president and head of school board, who wears a pair of glasses and has a beard. Another man with long black hair and a welcoming smile on his face is Gilbert Durandal, the school's head of education and psychological counselor. And… Asuka brothers' uncle Fumihiko?

"Well, do you want to explain to the kids, or would you allow me the honor, Makabe?" Gilbert turns to face Fumihiko.

"Be my guest."

"Thank you." Gilbert give a gracious nod as he turns towards the kids, "First, I want to welcome everyone to S.E.E.S, the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. We are a privately armed organization which studies the use of special ability named 'persona' to fight against the threat of Shadows."

"Mr. Durandal, if I may interrupt…" While the other students are still dumbfounded, Yu raises his left arm while still holding his brother with right, "Just what is this Shadow, and Persona you mentioned." Sure, he understands the literal meaning of both words, but it doesn't take a genius like Yu to figure out Gilbert did not take their direct literary meaning.

"Before I answer your question Yu, I would like to ask you. In the past, how many natural disaster, war, or terrorism act has happened around the world."

"12 natural disasters, 1 major warfare in Europe, 3 other small skirmishes around the world, and 26 noticeable acts of terrorism around the world." Take a short time to think, Yu comes up with the perfect answer.

"That's a good answer, but I regret to say it is incorrect. The truth is zero natural disaster, war, and terrorism occurred since the last ten years." If anyone was not surprised when they come in, Gilbert's answer certainly knocked the wind out of him or her, with the exception of Kazuki, Ryou… and Rey, "They are all part of a cover up against humanity's real threat, the invasion of a being we call the 'shadow'. I trust you all see it first hand today?"

He posed for a few second, as if to let the kids to digest what he just said, "Despite studying them for ten years now, we still don't know what this being we call 'shadow' is. Some believe they are alien invaders, others think it is the defensive mechanism of earth to exterminate human beings. All we know is they come from another dimension we named 'Shadow world'."

He posed for a few second more, "And the persona, it is a special ability which some of human has. After our study, we believe it is a hidden personality of the human manifested in the form of mythical beings, like a mask which protect you from the harsh world. After training, those people with the ability can summon their persona with a special equipment we developed named 'evoker'." He takes a pistol out of the holster and point it at his head, "Come forth, Odin."

A loud Bam followed by the white fragments flying out of Gilbert's head, they forms a white being elegantly holding a spear in its hand.

"And for some reason… some people can summon their persona without the aid of Evoker. We still don't know what caused this natural type of persona user to appear, but their persona seems to be stronger then the artificial persona user." Everyone turns towards Shinn.

"Was… was the 'Orb Gas Explosion' incident also caused by those shadows?" Shinn's head still aches, but it is clear enough for him to absorb what Gilbert just said.

"Yes."

"Then count me in, I would like to get back at those shadow bastards." Shinn says with a sinister smile, almost can be counted as a smirk on his face.

Join a private squad to hunt shadows seems to be a good way to take some of his stored anger out, and it's against those creatures that killed his family.

_The life here on Tatsumiya turns out to be good indeed…_


	5. Chapter 4: Burn my dread

Chapter 4: Burn my dread

Dreamless dorm, ticking clock, I walk away, from the soundless room.

The music from the MP3 player helps to keep its wearer awake near midnight.

Windless night, moonlight melt, my ghostly shadow, to the lukewarm gloom.

The late night bullet train gently rocks Kira, it reminds her feelings when she was still a baby in the cradle, and her mother would gently rock her to sleep…

Nightly dance, of bleeding sword, reminds me that, I still live.

She wears a black shirt with a pair of black pants. Kira would wear a skirt to better show her gender, but it has already turn cold.

Of course, Kira has a very cute face. But the only problem being she is passable to be either a cute girl or a cute boy, take your pick. Her purple colored eyes seem to have the magic to drown people in. Her face, always have a soft smile had a childish innocent charm to it. And her very short plain style brown hair doesn't help to distinguish her gender either.

_Where am I going again… is it Aprillius city? Why would I want to go there boarding a late night train… _

Kira thinks to herself while the bullet train enters Aprillius train station. She takes her luggage and leaves the bullet train. The station is quit empty with only a few passengers and security guards walking around, shadows flash around every corner when there's not enough lighting. _How will I be able to get to the dorm?_

She doubts her impulse of coming to Aprillius once again.

_Well, Kira… blaming your impulse would not do anything for you now. Start walking towards Tatsumiya district would be a good start… Maybe I'll even find a nice man or woman willing to take me there on the way._

Of course, this plan will not be easy since her destination is a good… what, twenty to thirty kilometers away at least? But it will have to do for now.

So she just keeps her cheerful face and walks toward the exit of train station with the song 'burn my dread' plays over and over again in her MP3. Not noticing behind her, all the people suddenly turned into coffin…

-

Dreamless dorm, ticking clock, I walk away, from the soundless room. Windless night, moonlight melt, my ghostly shadow, to the lukewarm gloom. Nightly dance, of bleeding sword, reminds me that, I still li…

The song suddenly stops and Kira takes the MP3 player up to her eyes. _Nuts, did it run out of battery? Or broken? I just got it too…_

Then she realize something else, the moon light above her which had a comforting white gloom seems to turns into a menacing amber green.

Although people would usually associate green with life, this color certainly made Kira uncomfortable. Soon she realized the reason, but she wishes she didn't.

_Green is the color of death. _Kira shivers, as she remembered the line her English teacher gives, when her teacher brings visual novel 'The Watchman' in as an extra-curriculum reading material on popular literature.

_Well Kira… This is all in your head… I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason as to why the moonlight turns green… It's just some kind of natural phenomenon you don't know… Don't fret yourself over it…_

Despite trying to overcome her fear, Kira picks up her pace. This is definitely not normal, and she would at least finds some level of comfort around other people.

She didn't…

Or more precisely, she only finds the coffins on the street. Kira know there's people in them despite she doesn't know why she knows.

She quickly twists her body to the back.

Something is in the shadows… Or perhaps… the shadow is something.

The shadows near the corner of Train station slowly twisted. Revealing masks on them, and then it twist inward on itself, forming into some kind of… flouting sphere with a mouth and a long tongue stretching out of its mouth.

Kira slowly takes a few steps back, before turns around and made a break for it.

The shadows charge at her.

"Leave me alone! Leave Kira alone!" Kira desperately shout and flings her luggage backpack at one of the shadow closest to her like a flail. It meet the shadow on it's circular body's side with such force the shadow is knocked flying more then ten meters and made a splat against one of the walls.

More shadows come at Kira, so she did what sensible thing she should do, which is running at her top speed while screaming at top of her lung.

At all the running, Kira starts to some how think irrelevant things. Perhaps it is due to a lack of oxygen to her brain?

_How did that song go after it? Oh yeah… I will burn my dread! I once run away from the god of fear and he chains me to despair. _

Seems very fitting to her current situation, she's only glad she is not chained down by someone right now. Since those… shadow things seem to want to make her into their health mid-night snack.

_I will break this chain and run, till I see the sunlight again._

Well… She'll probably not see sunlight any time soon, unless she can keep on running at her top speed for more then six hours.

_I lift my face, and run to the sunlight…_

Kira wants to lift her face, wants to find sunlight just like in this song. But she could not find the welcoming warmth and she trips and fall done on her face flat. This is it… she'll be dead in a few seconds. If she has a gun she'll probably use it to blow her head open, since being eaten by one of those shadow things… doesn't sounds like a good way to die.

She wants to bury her face into the pavement and pretend all this is just a bad dream while accepting her fate. But perhaps with one last hope, she turns her head to see what is going on behind her.

It worked… A teenage boy, who doesn't seems to be much older then Kira who wears some kind of white uniform, with a red 'S.E.E.S' on the back stands between her and certain doom, holding a sheathed long two-handed Katana in his left hand.

_Well… here's my knight in shining armor… But it doesn't seem like he'll do much better using that sword then my backpack…_

"Twenty Nautilus Class? That's barely a challenge." No matter what Kira thinks, the boy seems to be pretty confident as he opens his free right hand. A card appears, flouting on top of a splendid purple flame, "Susanoo."

The boy says in a low pitched voice as he crushes the card with his right hand, clenching into a fist now. A giant biker gang, like one of that hell's angel with red skin appears besides the boy. The biker stands over two meters tall, definitely larger then the biggest body builder Kira saw in her entire life.

The biker named Susanoo charges at the incoming shadow things, with a wooden sword in his right hand. A strong gust of wind forms around its wooden sword as he slashes it against the shadow things. The small wind twister forms into a large hurricane, twisting and shredding the shadow things down to bits. It also disappears into a fragment of light after the shadow things are no more.

The boy turns back towards Kira. She blushes a little in front of her savior but the lack of light helps to hide it well. But even though the light is dim, Kira notices the boy has an unusual pair of red colored eyes, which seems to drown her in just as her purple eyes drown in so many… She couldn't help but notice there's something hiding behind the gentle pond of red. Is it sadness? Is it anger? Or perhaps some stronger emotions…

"Hey, aren't you that… that Kira dude from two years ago?" The boy suddenly says with a confused look.

"Yeah, my name is Kira Yamato (A play of word, her name is actually different when written in Japanese then the Kira from SEED's original cast. But it pronounces the same, and also spells the same in English.). Thank you for saving me from those… those shadow things… Mr. Knight in white uniform…"

"Don't tell me you forgot me already? Didn't we meet two years ago in an arcade in Orb? You are like, the only guy who ever has a draw with my brother and I in Gundam VS Gundam. And we promised to have a rematch someday when you get yourself a partner." The boy looks very annoyed at Kira's response.

"I'm sorry? I don't… remember to be in Orb's arcade… I do remember some fragment of the place called Orb though…" Kira, scratching her head as she lift herself up, the boy didn't offer to help.

_So much for my knight in shining armor…_ Kira thought to herself sarcastically, then she realizes the boy probably mistaken her to be a boy.

"Humph, so you lost some of your memory or something. We'll deal with this problem later, first we go find the rest of my team." The boy walks past Kira, then he turns back toward Kira once again, "Just for the second time, my name's Shinn Asuka, don't forget this time."

"Shinn… Asuka…" Kira slowly chanted his name, is if trying to better memorize it, "I'll be sure to remember your name, Shinn-Sama (A kind of Japanese honorfication, roughly translate into 'master')."

Shinn tripped and fall on his face.

"Are you trying to make fun of me? We aren't that close, and what's this calling someone your own gender 'sama' with that kind of… that kind of… Just call me Asuka (Japanese people usually don't refer to other people they don't know well with their first name, they usually call others with their last name.)! Or else I'll stab you with my anti-ship sword!" Shinn says angrily and point the tip of his sheathed Katana at Kira's nose before continue on.

"Yes, Asuka-San."

Shinn fall on his face again.

-

A group of teenage boy and girl who wears the white S.E.E.S uniform is waiting near a Jeep with S.E.E.S painted on its side. One purple haired teenage girl with an assault rifle seems to be particularly annoyed, "When will that kid Shinn grow up already! Ditching his team members and just go solo like that."

"Well, Luna you know nii-san don't like to rely on others. And plus he's a natural type persona user, so we don't need to worry about him." A boy who looks just like Shinn, except with a warm smile on his face tries to calm the girl down.

"Like hell I'm worrying about that Mr. Bad Attitude. He needs to be more mature." Luna's face swollen up, showing that she obviously carries a grudge, "Why can't he be more like… like you Yu?"

"Well, I'm so sorry I'm not your type like my brother is." With a sarcastic tone, Shinn appears from the shadows, "Go get married to my brother, and live a happily ever after life together already."

"Why, you little… I'm not…humph!" Luna looks so angry, she looks like she's gonna bash Shinn's skull in with her assault rifle before Yu jumps in between the two.

"Come on, don't be mad at each other, we are a team right?"

"Well, since Yu says it so nicely… I'll just be the mature one and back off, unlike Mr. Bad Attitude here." Luna says as she turns her head the other way, not looking at Shinn.

_You dare call yourself mature… And denies you like Yu…_ Shinn thought with annoyance.

"Well, who's your new friend nii-san… oh hey, aren't you Kira Yamato from Orb? It's been two years since we last saw you." Yu turns towards Kira who follows Shinn out of the shadow.

"No need to be friendly, he lost his memory and don't even remember us." Shinn says with an obvious sign of annoyance again, and he added with a low voice, "The nerve, after he beats us at…"

"Everyone, I'm getting a reading." A red haired girl who ties her hair in two ponytail pops out of the Jeep, "And it's a big one."


End file.
